Top News:
New York Times:
Amazon's $35M marketing campaign for Melania is ~10x the budget for similar documentaries like CNN's RBG; some suggest Amazon is currying favor with Trump — The tech giant is spending $35 million to promote its film about the first lady, far more than is typical for documentaries.
Discussion:
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Wall Street Journal:
Brett Ratner, director of Amazon's Melania documentary, filmed President Trump for a planned documentary-style project about the 2020 Abraham Accords — How a former Hollywood player, ‘Rush Hour’ director Brett Ratner, found himself in the epicenter of global power
Discussion:
Raw Story and Screen Rant
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Barry Diller expressed interest in buying CNN in H1 2025, before WBD said it would spin off cable networks; a WBD spokesman says CNN is not for sale — A Warner spokesman said CNN ‘was not and is not for sale’ — Billionaire media and tech investor Barry Diller approached Warner Bros. Discovery …
Discussion:
New York Times, @jeffreyt1, CNN, @brianstelter.bsky.social and @ellenenders.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
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Charlotte Klein / New York Magazine:
Sources: WaPo CEO Will Lewis floated several plans to make the company profitable again; some efforts failed to pan out, part of a pattern of fits and starts — It's been another terrible week for the Washington Post. The newsroom is bracing for a devastating round of layoffs with rumors flying …
Meta:
Meta reports Q4 revenue up 24% YoY to $59.9B, vs. $58.35B est., net income up 9% to $22.8B, and family DAP up 7% to 3.58B for December; META up 6%+ pre-market — Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META) today reported financial results for the quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025.
Discussion:
Fast Company, Constellation Research, Barron's Online, TechRadar, @mikeisaac, Auganix.org, @mikeisaac, @mikeisaac, Dhruv Vohra on LinkedIn, PYMNTS.com, SiliconANGLE, Business Insider, Benjamin Joe on LinkedIn, TechCrunch, Social Media Today, Shacknews, Inc.com, Axios, Crypto Briefing, Forbes, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Variety, MarketWatch, CNBC and CNBC, more at Techmeme »
Colin Moynihan / New York Times:
A US judge sentences a third person to jail for participating in a murder-for-hire plot, directed by Iran, targeting journalist and activist Masih Alinejad — Carlisle Rivera became the third person to be sentenced for playing a role in trying to kill Masih Alinejad, an activist and a critic of the Iranian government.
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Atlas Obscura reports $18.3M in revenue in 2025 and a $2.6M profit, the first annual profit in its 16-year history, in the first year under CEO Louise Story — This story was originally published in On Background with Mark Stenberg, a free, weekly newsletter that explores the key themes shaping the media industry.
Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:
Comcast reports NBCU's Q4 revenue rose 5.5% YoY to $7.62B and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $122M; Peacock had a $552M loss on $1.6B in revenue and 44M subscribers — Comcast posted mixed results for its fourth quarter on Thursday, beating analyst expectations on earnings but slightly missing on revenue.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, Variety, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Cord Cutters News
Katie Campione / Deadline:
Q&A with SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin about streaming consolidation, AI, residuals, upcoming labor negotiations, and more — “My mission going into this negotiation is to make sure that the companies spend as much time as necessary to fully hear the issues that each of our groups represent …
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sony Music Group and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC announce a joint venture to acquire music copyrights; sources say the JV plans to invest $2B to $3B — Sony Music Group and Singapore's GIC Pte sovereign wealth fund are forming a joint venture to acquire music copyrights …
Discussion:
Billboard, Financial Times, GIC, Reuters, Dow Jones Newswires and Music Business Worldwide
Selome Hailu / Variety:
Nielsen: Bluey was the most-streamed title in the US in 2025, with 45.2B minutes on Disney+; Grey's Anatomy was second with 40.9B minutes on Hulu and Netflix — “Bluey” was 2025's most-streamed title in the U.S. in 2025 — of any kind, including adult series and films — with 45 billion minutes watched, per Nielsen.
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
LinkedIn's Q2 revenue rose 11% YoY, topping $5B for the first time, giving it a $20B+ annual run rate; Satya Nadella says LinkedIn paid video ads grew 30% YoY — Remember when everyone said Microsoft overpaid for LinkedIn? Nearly a decade later, the $26.2 billion “overpriced” …
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KitGuru, Pure Xbox, VideoCardz.com, Inc and Constellation Research, more at Techmeme »
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